New Delhi High Court judge, Justice Naveen Chawla, has recused himself from hearing an appeal by Wikipedia challenging the single-judge bench’s April 2 order directing Wikipedia to take down a defamatory post against news agency ANI. Justice Chawla was part of a two-judge division bench, which also included Justice Renu Bhatnagar.

Justice Chawla recused himself from the hearing and directed that, subject to the orders of the Chief Justice, the appeal be listed before another bench.

In the court orders, it was held that the Wikipedia page of ANI was “ex facie deformity and tarnishes the professional reputation” of ANI. 

Wikipedia-ANI Case

On October 16, 2024, the High Court bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the Wikipedia foundation to take down a page about an ongoing proceeding of a defamation suit filed by the new agency against the platform. Since then, the United States-based non-profit organisation has suspended access to a page on the online encyclopedia about a defamation case filed against it by Asian News International (ANI).

When the matter first came to the Delhi High Court, the court ordered that the page be taken down and the editor of the page to be identified, which Wikipedia refused to do. During the case, another page appeared on Wikipedia discussing the proceedings in the legal matter. The Delhi High Court observed that the comments made on this page are against the court’s single judge bench and were ‘prima facie contemptuous’.

However, the Supreme Court questioned the Delhi High Court order in the ANI Wikipedia case, asking the court of law, “Every day in media, we find severe criticism of the court unless it is contempt. How can the court be so touchy?”